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| Italian States in 1454 Istria and Dalmatia were linked to Italy |
Certain organs of public opinion in this and other countries have on several occasions taken Italy to task for an alleged tendency to imperialism and for infringing upon the rights of the newly created Jugoslav nation. They allege that the Italians are animated by a spirit of conquest and that the Italian nation, before entering the war, wanted the other great powers of Europe to pledge themselves to give to her, in case of victory, certain lands that belonged to other nationalities. But the lands claimed by Italy are, in the eyes of every Italian, in the light of historical and geographical reasons, just as Italian as Lombardy and Venetia, redeemed from Austrian domination respectively in 1859 and 1866. The annexation of Istria, Trentino and part of Dalmatia is the completion of Italian unity, of that unity for which the Italians struggled for four long years, with perfect faith in the justice of their cause.
If — as it is advanced by Italy's adversaries and critics — there are many Slavs who inhabit the eastern coast of the Adriatic, it is no less true that the history of this coastal land is Italian in spite of the showing of census returns. It is no less true that the Italian element has always been predominant. It is no less true that the history of Dalmatia, its most notable monuments and its whole culture are products of either Roman or Venetian influence. It is no less true that the cities in particular still remain strongholds of Italian thought. It is no less true that in spite of numerical inferiority in some parts of the redeemed lands, the language, the customs, the civilization of those lands are purely Italian.
To redeem, not to conquer, those lands, the Italians have fought and bled and suffered. They are not annexing new land, they are joining to the common motherland parts that were detached from it.
This is not imperialism, it is not conquering — it is redemption.
